Mobile communication devices may run many different software applications having different capabilities, or allowing different actions to be performed. These software applications may also contain different types of information, such as personal contact information in an address book application and message information in a messaging application.
Communication devices often include a display which is associated with a graphical user interface (GUI) and one or more input mechanisms for navigating the graphical user interface. The GUI and input mechanisms typically allow a user to locate and launch a specific software application or to display a specific piece of information associated with a software application. Where a user of a communication device would like to launch an application or perform a specific action associated with the application, they often navigate the graphical user interface in order to select the application or to select the action within the application once it has been launched. For example, a user may select a “Compose New Message” option within an e-mail messaging application to compose a new e-mail message. Similarly, where a user of a communication device would like to locate and display a piece of information associated with an application, he or she will often navigate the graphical user interface in order to select the piece of information within the application. For example, a user may select a specific received message within the Inbox of an e-mail messaging application to view the content of that message.
As the number of different software application capabilities resident on a given device increase in number, and the information resident within those applications increases in both amount and variety, users may encounter difficulty in navigating the device's software environment to locate a specific capability of the device or a specific piece of information associated with an application. The process of navigating the graphical user interface in order to select the desired application, action, or piece of information may be slow and may, as a result, consume system resources such as battery resources, memory resources and display resources.
Thus, there exists a need to provide improved methods, systems and devices for permitting navigation of applications, actions, and information.
It will be noted that throughout the drawings and description similar features are identified by the same reference numerals.